


On Death and Brains

by p0cketw0tch



Category: Forever (TV), iZombie (TV)
Genre: Cannibalism, Does it count as Major Character Death if it's Henry Morgan?, Don't Try This At Home, Gen, Human Experimentation, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 00:24:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3670629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/p0cketw0tch/pseuds/p0cketw0tch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day had started with spoiled milk and had ended with both himself and an innocent young woman being shot in the morgue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Death and Brains

**Author's Note:**

> There’s something about iZombie that makes me think about Forever: or maybe it’s not so strange considering they are both procedural about a (potentially) immortal employee at the morgue with quirky behavior who helps solve crime while trying to hide their condition and deal with occasional interference by a mysterious and manipulative antagonist with the same condition. In any case:

The day had started with spoiled milk and had ended with both himself and an innocent young woman being shot in the morgue and a body stolen. The young woman in question was Liv Moore, a particularly bright, if cynical, coroner’s assistant who had accompanied a visiting Seattle PD detective in investigating similarities between two murder cases. She and Henry had stayed late, engrossed in a discussion on emergency treatment using household objects as the rest of the staff had trickled out the door. As the shooter’s footsteps faded away, Henry knew there would be no one to witness his disappearance. Any relief, however, was eclipsed by deep regret as his fading vision tunneled on the now dull eyes of the young woman who had fallen beside him.

And so when Henry trudged back to the morgue with a heavy heart and found the young woman not only alive, but eating something suspiciously pink and fleshy he could be excused for letting out a rather undignified squawk and exclaiming “You were shot!”

It was a good thing the morgue was still deserted, because Liv blinked like a startled deer and shot back “Well, at least  _my_  body didn’t just  _disappear into thin air_!” What followed was one of the most surreal conversations Henry has had in over two centuries.

——

“235 years old, huh? God, I hadn’t even thought about if I’ll age or not.” Liv waved a chopstick in emphasis, nearly losing a piece of brain matter to the floor. Perhaps Henry should have felt more disturbed but the former owner was already dead and Henry kept stranger things in his basement. Miss Moore’s condition was fascinating and he could only be glad his own condition doesn’t come with the same requirements.

“Yes, well, eating brains seems like enough of an adjustment. No point in crossing that existential bridge until you come to it. You know, I’ve wondered about my own memories. My body seems to physically reset after every death, and yet I don’t seem to lose any memories at all. You’d think there was some connection, though it’s just as well I’m not constantly wandering about thinking it’s 1814.”

Liv shot him a crooked grin as he contemplated the constant horror and confusion of such an existence. The future stretched endlessly and pointless onwards when he allowed himself to contemplate it, but the curse did, at least, offer small mercies.

“I’d offer to eat your brain when you died and see what transferred but you don’t exactly stick around long enough for a chowdown.”

“Well that isn’t entirely true. The human mind can survive quite a bit of tissue removal. Although I haven’t done a lot of study into removing brain tissue of a live patient and it would probably depend a great deal on the subject in question-”

“Ew, like Hannibal Lecter style?”

Henry blinked, startled out of his train of thought. “Who?”

“You know, Silence of the Lambs? Fictional cannibalistic serial killer? I think he cuts out a piece of someone’s brain while they’re still conscious in one of the movies.”

“That is highly disturbing.”

“Totally gross.”

“It would be insane to even contemplate trying such a thing.”

There was a pregnant pause as they both contemplated the ceiling.

“You know, I do have a bone saw and some fairly fast acting poisons in my personal lab…”


End file.
